Hopper feeder for textile material



Oct. 21, 1930. H. WILKINSON HOPPER FEEDER FOR TEXTILE MATERIAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 26, 1929 I NYE NTOR: alawgM/h 5a" Oct. 21, 1930.

H. WILKINSON 1,778,741

HOPPER FEEDER FOR TEXTILE MATERIAL Filed Nov. 26, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 21, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HENRY w'rLxrNsoN, or OLDHAM, ENGLAND, Ass-IoNoR or ONE-HALF 'ro' rLA'r'r BROTHERS AND COMPANY LIMITED, or OLDHAM, ENGLAND HOPPER FEEDER FOR TEXTILE MATERIAL Application filed November 26, 1929, Serial No. 409,811,-and in Great Britain February 16, 1929.

This invention relates to improvements inand connected with hopper feeders of a class which receive cotton fibre fed pneumatically from a previous machine or preliminary range of machines and which is well adapted to be combined with a further or refining group of machines in a combination ofapparat'us for cleaning, opening or like treatment and for forming the cotton into laps, that is, in group or combination apparatus comprising cotton cleaning, opening and lap forming machines.

I 1nake use of a hopper feeder structure which combines with preceding apparatus and succeeding apparatus and has, amongst other-features, a front compartment with floor lattice o'r conveyor and pivoted front control board, and a rear compartment or feed reserve box with floor lattice or conveer and pivoted rear control board.

7 e'pivoted front control board overns the" floor'lattice or conveyor in thefeed reserve box, and the pivoted rear control board governs the delivery'offibre from the combined preceding apparatus by automatically stopping or regulating the feed therefrom into the feed reserve box of the hopper feeder. The pivoted front control board andt'he pivoted rear control board may be independent the one from the other, or, they may be interconnected by appropriate mechanism. There are other details whichare more fully set forth hereafter in the following description.

Theimprovements are illustrated by the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig; 1 is a side elevation of a hopper feeder structure embodying the features of the invention, and which is devised to combine with preceding and succeeding apparatus in theprocesses of feeding, cleaning and opening cotton or such like textile material.

Fig. 2 shows a diagram of a typical form of control mechanism actuated from the improved hopper feeder structure andlocated in a preceding apparatus.

Fig. 2? is a detail view;

Fig. 3 is an" elevation showing a modification in theimproved hopper feeder-structure.

Fig. 4 shows a plan view of Fig. 1.

In the arrangement illustrated, I use a hopper feeder erection, of a proper capacity and construction and this as a whole is marked The hopper feeder A has a lifting lattice 1, clearer 2, and stripper 3, driven in the usual way, or any such like known devices and which deliver the fibre over a grid or such like marked 4 onto a horizontal orinclined conveying lattice 5 for a succeeding and connected machine. Any similar combination of lifting, cleaning or conveying means may be utilized, the above being mentioned by way of example.

In the properly designed hopper structure A, I provide two pivoted and weighted con trol boards marked 6 and 7 the said control boards being pivoted at 6 7 and adjustably andrespe'ctively weighted by the known lever and weight contrivances 8, 9. g The forward board 6 is approximately in a mid-position in the hopper structure, and the rear board '7 is pivoted at the point 7 at or towards the rear wall of thehopper structure. As thus, the hopper structure is divided roughly into two sections, a front compartment, the back of which is the forward pivoted board and a reserve compartment or feed reserve box. The front of said feed reserve box is a suspended bent or shaped perforated sheet 10, which may be connected to or depend from a hood or hoods such as 11 connected by a duct or; ducts such as12 to an encased fan 13 or other kindred means for dust extractingpurposes. The back of the feed reserve box is the rear pivoted board 7. There is an endless bottom lattice 1 1 to the front compartment. This is shown driven through a gear wheel 14:zand it feeds the upright spiked lifting-lattice 1. There is a suitablydriven endless bottom lattice 15 to the feed reserve box and this is arranged to deliver onto the forward lattice 14, the fore-end being conveniently somewhat raised so as to' drop the fibre onto the forward lattice 14. This forward lattice 14 can be automatically go-verned or'stopped as maybe requisite by mechanism controlled by or from any suc ce'edi-ng or forward machine inagroup', or

from its control gear, such being no part of this invention.

Thus far, I have a hopper feeder with a front compartment and rear feed reserve box ends with its own travelling lattice as a floor, the cotton being lifted as required from the front Compartment, and being pneumatically delivered into or over the feed reserve b x, for example, from an overhead condenser with the known revolving and dampered cages indicated at 16 the air from which is extracted by the fan 13 along the trunks 17.

The front pivoted board 6 has its axle suitably mounted in bearings and has an outside lever arm'18, or any equivalent, to which is attached an adjustable connecting rod 19 which, by bell-crank lever 20 operates a pivoted or movable belt-fork 21 which is adapted to shift a belt 22 with respect to the fast and loose pulleys 23, 2 f. A1 y gear and any belt shifting or clutch provision would serve equally well and the belt-shifting or clutch provision may also be actuated from forward, combined or succeeding machines in the group, this however forming no part of the present invention.

' If the belt 22 be shifted to the loose pulley 24, the lattice 15 constituting the floor of the feed reserve box is no longer driven and does not feed onto the lattice 1 1 which is the floor of the front compartment. Thus, the feed of fibre to the front compartment ceases until normal conditions are restored, the lifting lattice 1 continuing to take its supply to be forwarded from the fully charged front compartment.

On the axle of the rear pivoted board 7 there is a lever arm 25 and this is connectedup by a flexible wire 26, or other appropriate means, to a valve such as 27 say in the pneumatic tube 28 feeding to the cages of the condenser 16 for delivery into the feed reserve box. The means for controlling cotton supplyfor delivery (via the pneumatic tube 28 and condenser cages 16) into the feed reserve box could be greatly varied. A very convenient plan would be to connect the flexible wire 26 up to the weighted lever arm 29 of a beltfork 30 fulcrumed at 31, the belt-fork being operated with respect to fast and loose pulleys 32, 33, in connection with the upright spiked lifting lattice 3a in a hopper opener (marked 7b) in a preceding group of combined machines. This is well indicated by the Figs. 2 and 2. f too great an amount of cotton be fed into the feed reserve box, then the driving of tie upright spiked lifting lattice 34 of the antecedent hopper opener h (Fig. 2) is automatically stopped by the action of the rear pivoted board 7. Similarly, when said feed reserve box is sufficiently emptied and the pivoted board 7 begins to lift, then the preceding hopper opener h (Fig. 2) begins to supply further cotton.

As when the front pivoted board 6 in the front compartment is moved back to stop or check the feed from the feed reserve box, it is desirable to influence the rear pivoted board 7 to check the feed along the pneumatic tube 28 and by the condenser cages to the feed reserve box, I prefer to have a slotted lever arm or equivalent 35 on the axle 7 of the rear pivoted board 7 and this is coupled or interconnected through a bell-crank lever 36 (adjustably fulcrumed) to a slotted adjustable connecting rod 37 jointed to the slotted lever arm 18 of the front pivoted board 6. As a consequence, when the front pivoted board 6 moves backwards, it moves the rear pivoted board 7 also, and so equally checks the pneumatic feed or the machine feeding the fibre for supply to the feed reserve box.

Also as it is conceivable that, while the front compartment may be perfectly stocked, it may happen that a somewhat large extra delivery might fall into the feed reserve box and, acting on the rear pivoted board 7, might interfere with the feeding contrivances forward thereof. By acting on the front pivoted board 6, I make provision to meet such conditions. To prevent this, I arrange to allow the rear pivoted board 7 to move back independently to a limited extent. The object can be accomplished by having a long slot 35 in the lever arm 35 and an adjustable or other pin on the arm of the bellcranl: lever 36 and a slot in the connecting rod 37 as is well shown in Fig. 1. Thus, if the rear pivoted board 7 moved suddenly and unduly, by an influx of cotton, the only immediate result would be checking of supply along the pneumatic tube or from the feeding apparatus by operation of the flexible wire 26 or like connecting means.

A ribbed roller 38 may be fitted in the hopper feeder structure immediately behind the bottom of the front pivoted board, and be driven through the gear wheels 89, 10.

In the slightly modified arrangement, illustrated by Fig. 3, the front pivoted board 6 and the rear pivoted board 7 are not interconnected or coupled. The front pivoted board 6 operates the belt fork 21 automatically acting through the connecting rod 19, and the rear pivoted board 7 operates to act on the flexible wire 26, said rear pivoted board 7 being automatically controlled by the quantity of cotton in the feed reserve box.

According to the foregoing I am able to provide a feed reserve box pneumatically or mechanically fed and which has its own pivoted rear control board 7 which can act independently; or when required, be coupled with the pivoted front control board 6. I also have two combining but independently controlled floor lattices or conveyors.

I declare that what I claim is:

1. Hopper feeder apparatus for tr tile materials, comprising a hopper structu'ze. couveying means at the base of said hopper structure, a pivoted control board therein, a feed reserve box adjacent the hopper structure, a conveyor at the base of the feed reserve box, driving means for said conveyor, controlling mechanism for the driving means actuated by the pivotal control board in the hopper structure, and a control board in the feed reserve box, pneumatic discharge provision combined With the feed reserve box, and mechanism connecting the control board in the feed reserve box to control the fibre delivered into the feed reserve box.

2. In a hopper feeder for textile materials, a feed reserve box adjacent the rear of a hopper structure, a control board in the hopper structure, a control board in the feed reserve box, pneumatic delivery apparatus delivering into the feed reserve box, means combined With the control board in the feed reserve box to govern the pneumatic delivering apparatus, a lattice in the hopper structure, a lattice in the feed reserve box, means for driving said lattice, and governing mechanism for the driving means actuated by the control board in the hopper.

3. Feeder mechanism for textile material Which combines a hopper feeder, a lattice conveyor, a pivoted control board, a feed reserve box in the rear of the hopper feeder, a lattice conveyor therein, a pivoted control board in said feed reserve, driving means for the lattice conveyor in the feed reserve box, mechanical means connecting the pivoted control board in the hopper feed and the pivoted control board in the feed reserve box, pneumatic feed mechanism to feed fibre to the feed reserve box controlled by the pivoted board in the feed reserve box, the pivoted control board in the hopper governing the driving of the lattice conveyor in the feed reserve box.

4. A hopper feeder for textile materials, comprising a front compartment, a lifting lattice, a floor lattice therein, means to drive the same, a pivoted control board in said front compartment, a feed reserve box, a floor lattice therein, means to drive said floor lattice governed by the pivoted control board in the front compartment, a pivoted control board in the feed reserve box, means for pneumatically feeding fibre into the feed reserve box, and means operated by the pivoted control board in said feed reserve box for automatically controlling the supply of fibre from said feeding means.

5. A hopper feeder for textile materials, comprising a front compartment, a lifting lattice therein, a floor lattice, means to drive the latter, a pivoted control'board in said front compartment, and mechanism operated therefrom, a feed reserve box, a floor lattice therein, means to drive said floor lattice, said means being governed by the pivoted control board in the front compartment, a pivoted control board in the feed reserve box, interconnecting means betvveen the control board tice, said means governed by the pivoted con trol board in the front compartment, a pivoted control board in the feed reserve box, pneumatic feeding mechanism delivering into said feed reserve box, and connecting means between the control board in the feed reserve box and the feeding mechanism for controlling delivery of fibre from said pneumatic feeding mechanism.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

HENRY WILKINSON. 

